Broken coil wire - repair or replace?

[craigs63]

I was preparing to install a 4 way switch on my new Classic Vibe Tele tonight, and somehow I broke the tiny wire on the neck pickup, between the eyelet and the coil itself (the right side or high-E string side, if that makes a difference). I was trying to de-solder the ground from the chrome cover.

Is this wire I broke solderable by someone without a microscope? Or should I look around for a replacement pickup (it seems like lots of people are "Esquiring" their guitars around here...).

Some day I'll actually be playing this guitar.

[jrfrond]

There is nothing magic about that pickup. Just replace it. You can get a new Tele neck pickup cheap from GFS. It might even be better.

[Fiver]

I have done this before.. If it's the finish wire, and it sounds like it is, you can unwrap a turn or two and re-solder it. The trick is to use enough heat to melt the insulation but not too much to burn the wire in half.

[spankdplank]

Unwrap a turn or two and re-sodder. You can use a razor blade to carefully scrape off the insulation.

[Groovey Records]

put the solder on the plates eyelet, keep the solder in a drop. Use tweezers to hold the wire and place into the soldered plate eyelet with just a little heat.

[craigs63]

Well, my solder attempt gave a zero ohm reading (not the tone I was looking for), so I tried unwrapping the broken wire, which broke again underneath the coil somewhere. It looks like I will be reading the "neck pickup recommendation" threads for a while.

fyi, the CV pickup has a little wax on the top of it (over the polepieces and about halfway down the sides of the coil), my cover came off fairly easily, but I could see where that maneuver wouldn't be so easy a few years down the road if the wax got more solid.